For the last couple of years, the lives of the Turgwe hippos have been under siege due to a natural disaster, followed by politics and man's greed. It began when cyclone Eline which hit Mozambique, caught the Turgwe River causing massive flooding. During that period, seven of the Turgwe hippos disappeared and three of the four weirs within the river system were breached. (A weir is a cemented rock wall that has been built onto bedrock across the river to establish a way of holding water during the dry season.) The Turgwe used to flow perennially but now it only flows annually. The weirs have, over the years, created extra areas in which the hippos could live, the wall acting as a dam during the dry season and holding water that in some cases stretched back a couple of miles.

Suddenly the Turgwe hippos found themselves with only one weir pool in which to live. Happy the smaller younger bull kept his weir at Chichindwi, but Bob, the much older bull, lost both of his weir sites in the horrendous floods. Once the river started to decrease in depth, all his females and calves deserted him to move into Happy's weir pool which had more water, allowing the hippos to fully submerge.

After living alone for over six weeks Bob appeared directly next to the weir and challenged Happy. A skirmish took place with Bob chasing the younger bull away from his own territory and reclaiming his original females as well as taking over all of Happy's. For the first time in the ten years of my behavioral study, I had the largest group of hippos, nineteen animals literally five minutes walk from our home. Happy moved several miles upstream to live and hide in the reeds adjacent to a tiny channel within the Turgwe: he did not try to reclaim his territory nor family. 

We realized that this situation could not continue indefinitely. The hippos have had man-made help for years with the weirs, which needed to be repaired. In the meantime the amount of sand that washed into the river during the flooding and the broken weirs was unbelievable. Overnight the Turgwe began to shrink in depth. The sand relentlessly moved along with the current, depths in the river fell to less than a few inches and the pool slowly began to close up. The Turgwe Hippo Trust put in an emergency corridor of wood poles and bags filled with sand placed at the bottom of each pole. We dug a trench in the middle of the corridor and dug daily to trap sand that otherwise would enter the pool but we knew more effort had to be made. We sourced a machine called a sand pump and thanks to help from a private donation, hippos supporters and a Web link, we managed to hire the very expensive equipment.

The hippos in the meantime were under a new threat: Man and politics had taken over this wildlife Conservancy. This land, which had been classified as unsuitable for people's resettlement, only viable for wildlife related businesses, was invaded. Throughout Zimbabwe, "war veterans" invaded farms, ranches and wildlife areas. With the blessing of our government, they brought extra people onto the lands.

Law and order ceased to have any meaning and a Pandora's box was opened which has not yet been closed. In this area poaching became the way of life. In two months over three thousand wire snares were found with up to fifteen hundred dead animals. In our area at first it was relatively quiet. Then several months ago we began to find snares. On one walk, my husband and I picked up over forty snares, with five dead animals in them, kudu antelopes and impalas, all having died a gruesome death. The poachers had not even returned to collect their spoils. These men are not poaching for hunger but it is a business, one that is leading to the decimation of most of the animals in areas within the Conservancy. If it is not stopped soon the animals will all die. I worry constantly about the hippos; we found two snares set on their exit points from the river. I now patrol daily a stretch of river of up to five miles long, but I am only one person. My husband Jean-Roger worked for three weeks in the pool. He removed 2500 cubic meters of the sand. Our web links www.savethehippos.com and www.garethpatterson.com show the work in progress through photographs as well as a write-up about the job.

Now it is July 2001 and we need to do the work all over again. We expected this as sand continues to move from upstream, but we were hoping it would take a little bit longer. We ordered our own sand pump and with people's help, we have enough money to buy it, but have had to use funds set aside to repair the one broken weir. So we are still in need of help either with new foster parents or personal donations, however small.

Jean-Ropger is now back in the pool again and the eighteen hippos have moved out. They visit the pool at dusk in one's and two's, get wet, and then return to the bushes during daylight hours. We hope that in the next few days we will have opened a big enough area for them to consider moving into as we continue working in the pool. This time the current in the river is much slower so hopefully the pool could last until October/November. 

Time is running out for the Turgwe hippos so we must act now. To live in Africa is not the Garden of Eden that many tourists see. It is a hard land, with a harsh climate and with a myriad of problems. Land must be given to landless people, but with the correct distribution process. It is pointless to give land that is not arable, and hence unsuitable. It is not only emotionally upsetting but economically suicidal to kill wildlife in areas where the people could benefit from the animal and then live better lives. Likewise it is criminal to allow a few entrepreneurs to make a fortune out of killing wild animals.

We at the Turgwe Hippo Trust do not give up: we continue to help these wonderful animals. We pray that sanity will return to a once peaceful and great country and that the wildlife will have a chance once more to run wild and free without man's greed. The Turgwe hippos were here before man even walked upon this land; they have a right to this life.

If anybody would like to help these hippos by adoption or donation please contact:
Turgwe Hippo Trust, Hippo Haven, Box 322, Chiredzi,Zimbabwe. E-Mail paolillo@mweb.co.zw.